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The Hoard Facts

Virsto Adds XenDesktop to the Mix

Virsto's all-software, VM-centric storage hypervisor got a shot in the arm with the introduction of Virsto for vSphere 2.0, which expands Virsto's vision by adding support for Citrix XenDesktop VDI, upgrading the performance of Tier 1 apps, and improving integration with existing workflows. In addition, version 2.0 offers integrated wizard-based provisioning that the company says provides a 50 percent cut in the cost of storage per VM.

When Virsto began operations in 2010, it initially supported Hyper-V, but brought vSphere into the fold at the beginning of this year in order to capitalize on its dominant market share.

The support for XenDesktop VDI comes at a time when VDI is trying to gain traction by moving beyond previous problems associated with high upfront costs and excessive complexity. Virsto maintains that it comes to the rescue of VDI implementations that have succeeded as pilots, but then faltered as production systems.

In an effort to allay user fears that the Citrix product will upset existing environments, Virsto says the XenDesktop integration "completely preserves the image, image update and image rollback workflows that XenDesktop administrators are already using in Desktop Studio, while delivering higher-performance, space-efficient VDI."

Virsto for vSphere 2.0 strengthens support for Tier 1 apps by providing faster and comprehensive automated recovery options. For example, Virsto infrastructure monitoring is now integrated into vCenter, and the product is enabled to leverage pre-existing vCenter security roles and permissions while taking advantage of Virsto-enhanced workflows.

Virsto's integrated, wizard-based provisioning is designed for cloud-scale deployments , and creates up to 10,000 high-performance, cluster-aware clones , which the company says leads to the 50 percent reduction in the cost of storage per VM.

Virsto for vSphere 2.0 is now available, with subscription-based pricing beginning at $2,500 per TB.